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Let Tudor magician Dr John Dee put you under his spell

An exhibition brings to life the work of the 16th-century ‘Queen’s conjuror’ who was the model for Prospero

Rachel Campbell-Johnston

January 8 2016, 12:01am, The Times

Late last month a somewhat surprising interest briefly flourished on social media. It may not quite be the new Gangnam but still, when you hear it involves Euclid, you may well be gobsmacked. Since when did geometry become so fascinating?

The answer is simple: since the Royal College of Physicians decided to put on a show about Dr John Dee. To coincide with the staging of Scholar, Courtier, Magician: The Lost Library of John Dee, curators launched a series of animations of the books that once belonged to this most enigmatically intriguing of 16th-century characters; the man known in his day as the Queen’s conjuror (and more recently, for a spell, as #johndee).